Thursday, 3 January 2008

Preparations for Wolrd Cup

Thai players to begin trainingTOR CHITTINAND - bangkokpost.com

The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) will call up 25 players to the training camp on January 7 in preparation for the third round of the World Cup Asian qualifiers. The Thai team will begin their World Cup campaign in the third round by visiting Japan on February 6.Coach Chanvit Phalajivin said there were no easy matches and it would be tough to reach the final qualifying round of 10 teams.

After the Japan match Thailand are at home to Oman (Mar 16), home to Bahrain (June 2), away to Bahrain (June 7), home to Japan (June 14) and away to Oman (June 22).Chanvit said he would ask the FAT to give the Thailand Premier League a break during May and June to enable the Thai team to prepare properly.

He said that to advance into the next round Thailand would have to win all their home matches and draw their away games. ''From next Monday, we will start full training. It is important we are fully prepared for the qualifying matches.''